Spiders
by ScarletEmpress2017
Summary: Spiders, spiders, everywhere. Nobody in the cave likes them, and when they show up; they're nothing but trouble.


Mount Justice|

January 3rd, 2016|

2:46 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah was a very loving person. And while there were some things she just didn't tolerate, she had a great patience for a lot. But there was one thing she just couldn't stand…

"KALDUR! WALLY! CONNOR!"

Everyone came running at the sound of Zemirah screaming. Caroline was the first one at her best friend's side.

"Z! What's happening? What's up?"

"I just saw a spider!" Zemirah cried.

" _What!_ Where? I'll kill it with fire and-"

"No! Don't kill it! Just… Kaldur, can you…?"

The Atlantean gave a knowing nod and calmly reassured her.

"I know, do not worry. We will find it and take it outside."

"Somewhere _far_ away from the Mountain," Wally added.

"I'll get the jar…" Connor said bluntly.

If it wasn't already clear, Zemirah was _absolutely terrified_ of spiders. She did not like them, could not stand them, and would run away from them if she deemed it necessary. And even though she hated the little buggers, she didn't have the stomach to off them, and refused to let anyone harm them. Even though certain others were more than willing to do so for her sake. (Not to mention their own peace of mind.) Therefore it fell to Kaldur, Wally, Connor, or any combination of the three to hunt down the invaders.

It was mostly Kaldur's job because he was Zemirah's boyfriend and thus he had to; but Connor actually got roped in when he was the one who found and caught the spider during an "Arachnid Hunt". Wally got dragged into it after being forced to hunt down one of their uninvited guests when the other two weren't in the Cave. Twenty minutes later, the three passed through the den with their quarry in its designated containment. As was customary, they showed it to Zemirah as proof of life and capture, before turning away to set it free outside where it belonged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

February 16th, 2016|

8:14 AM EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The entire team came running into the training room as they heard shrill screams of distress. When they got there, Zemirah stood alone, struggling not to hyperventilate.

"A spider?" Caroline asked.

Zemirah wordlessly nodded. The trio dubbed "The Spider Squad" directly began their chase. Dick and Caroline moved to comfort their shaken friend, whereas the others retreated to their rooms. They had quickly learned from observation that helping the Spider Squad inadvertently inducted you into the group. No-one else really wanted to drop everything and search for a small arthropod in a cavernous mountain interior.

"I swear, this is probably the same spider from last month," Wally complained.

"Wally, be reasonable. There's no way it's the same spider from last month," Connor said.

"Yeah, no. 'Spider Incursions' happen once every five months at best and once every two months at worst. I've done the math; we shouldn't have to be looking for these stupid bugs until next month at least!"

"I do not believe it would go out of its way just to come back here after it has been removed once already," Kaldur interjected.

"Says you. My great-aunt's cat once went out of its way just to attack me. And _I_ was all the way across the room," Wally defended.

The other two shared a glance.

"No offense to the animals," Kaldur stated, "But I highly doubt a spider and a cat share the same capacity for intelligence."

"Besides, wouldn't it go out of its way to _avoid_ coming back here after being kicked out once?" Connor asked, genuinely curious.

"Perhaps… However, our current spider is not here. Maybe we should try something else."

"And how do you suppose we do that? Walk around with a bowl of spider-nip and call out its name?"

Kaldur gave a half-glare before answering.

"I meant try looking elsewhere."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

February 16th, 2016|

9:39 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Zemirah you've got to go to bed, you've gotta wake up at like… four AM!"

Dick and Caroline were trying (and failing) to convince Zemirah to go to sleep. She had classes the next day and due to different time zones had to wake up far earlier than the rest. However, the boys had yet to find the intruder and Zemirah refused to go to sleep until it was found and removed.

"Z, c'mon, you know you gotta go to sleep," Caroline pleaded.

"¡No! ¡Yo no quiero dormir con una aranja en la cuava! I won't do it!"

You knew it was bad if she stopped speaking English just to get her point across.

"Zemirah, they've searched all day, it probably left the way it came!"

"Ay, sí," Zemirah said sarcastically.

Just then, the three boys came in looking haggard.

"Did you find it?" Caroline asked hopefully.

"No," Wally said. "We didn't even see it. We've searched all over the Cave and nothing."

"Oh, in that case, I'm not sleeping," Zemirah said heading out of the lounge. "If you'll excuse me…"

Just as she was about to step out into the corridor she paused, then she spun around.

"What are you doing here?"

Everyone turned to face the other end of the room. Four people jumped in surprise at the sight. Batman stood, the inky darkness of his cape engulfing him and giving off a fairly chilling aura. The Dark Knight didn't answer the youngest Leaguer's question and instead moved to the kitchen counter and removed something from his person. It was a glass jar.

 _That contained the spider._

Five out of six youths looked completely stunned, the sixth looked slightly terrified.

"Take this outside," Batman ordered calmly.

" _Gladly_ ," Wally responded, snapping out of his stupor, stomping over, and snatching the container off of the counter. " _You_ , my little eight-legged compadre, are taking a nice vacation to _Mexico_! I'll be back in five."

With that he sped off in a blur of motion. Batman then turned to Zemirah.

"Go to bed."

"Okay."

With that she gave Kaldur a kiss on the cheek and left. As soon as she was gone, Connor turned to Kaldur, I thoroughly stunned yet confused look on his face.

"It was the same spider from last month."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mount Justice|

March 1st, 2016|

12:02 PM, EST|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zemirah took a glass and moved to get some juice. As she opened the fridge, movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned and faced the movement only to see nothing there. She turned back and _screamed_. Dick heard the sound all the way in the hangar and ran for the lounge. There, Zemirah sat hugging her knees on the counter looking completely terrified.

"What happened?"

"T-t- _tarantula_!" she hissed.

Dick looked slightly stricken and was momentarily frozen. He then carefully made his way over to Zemirah and huddled up next to her on the countertop.

" _Nope_."

Zemirah looked at him oddly before picking up on his emotions.

"You're scared of spiders too, aren't you?"

"I'm _not_ joining the Spider Squad, and I'm _not_ leaving you alone," he said bluntly.

Zemirah just stared at him suspiciously before turning to the front, a somewhat satisfied look on her face.

"You're afraid of spiders."

The two sat there in slightly pained silence and stared. Dick looked over to Zemirah, who was glaring at her phone.

"No one's answering," she muttered angrily.

Before the Bat could answer, the cause of their joint torment passed in front of them. Zemirah screamed again, and Dick let out a small yelp. The creature paused and seemed to look up at them before shaking two of its front legs in their direction. Zemirah screamed again while Dick froze. In her fit of terror, Zemirah actually _threw_ her glass to the floor. Of course, she missed by a long shot, but the impact and flying shards of glass was more than enough to scare the little beastie away.

"'Mirah, _what the ****_?! Why did you throw that?"

"What? It's not like I coulda hit it anyway!"

Sometime later the others returned and waited in the hangar expectantly… And were thoroughly confused and a bit disappointed when Zemirah did not come in or even call out to greet them.

"We're in the kitchen!" Her carrying voice echoed in their ears.

Puzzled, they made their way to the eat-in and were further nonplussed by the sight of the star-child and a Bat huddled on the countertop, not to mention the broken glass decorating the floor.

" _Why_ are you guys on the counter?" Artemis asked with no small amount of apprehension.

"And what did you do to the floor?" Wally added.

"There was a _huge_ , furry tarantula!" Zemirah answered instantly, pointing directly in front of their refuge. "It came back and stood _right there_ and _shook its legs at us_!"

"Oh, hell no!" Caroline said, jumping to piggyback on Chokichi. "Nope, nope. Not today, get me outta here!"

There was a lot that Caroline could deal with, but tarantulas were just not one of them.

As the two left, Connor and Kaldur moved to get the 'prison jar', while Wally hung back, eyeing his best friend in suspicion.

"Remind me why you're on the counter again?"

Dick almost froze, but Zemirah jumped in before he could answer.

"I didn't wanna be by myself since _none of you_ answered your phones!"

At the sharp remark, the red-head made an immediate U-turn and left, not wanting to upset her further. As soon as he was gone Dick sighed in relief.

"Thanks, KF would _never_ let me live it down."

"No prob, Bob. So, anything else you're not telling me? Secret tattoos, piercings?"

"Yeah, actually, I have a tat of a unicorn on my leg."

"Ya' kiddin, right?"

"Of course I am."

The two shared a laugh.

"We really need to spider-proof the cave," Zemirah said after they calmed down.

"Definitely."


End file.
